Wednesday, February 08, 2006

All Customs

This section has the main list of all our customs, including planned projects for the future. Note that these are not in chronological order, so new customs may possibly be added under older waves. Also, all planned figures are just ideas, so they may or may not ever get made. All planned (currently non-existent) figures are in italics. If a planned figure has a hyperlink, it means that the figure is in progress (a current project) but not yet completed. This section will be permanently linked in the Links section in the sidebar, and will be updated as needed so check back often!

Wave 1 - The Empire Strikes Back Wave 2 - Heir to the Empire Wave 3 - Droids Wave 4 - Shadows of the Empire Wave 5 - Return of the Jedi Wave 6 - Clone Wars Cartoon Series
  • Tarr Seirr (Cerean Jedi) [ROTS]
  • K'Kruhk (Whiphid Jedi)
  • Voolvif Monn (Shistavanen Jedi) [ROTS]
  • Roron Corobb (Ithorian Jedi)
  • IG Lancer Droid
  • Clone Lancer Trooper
  • Quarren Warrior ("Squidhead" warriors)
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi (Clone Armor) [TSC]
  • Yoda (Illum Outfit)
  • ARC Pilot [ROTS]
  • Clone SCUBA Trooper
  • Mon Calamari Knight
  • Kybuck (Yoda's mount)
  • Keelkana (Mon Calamari Knights' mount)
  • Chameleon Droid
Wave 7 - Clone Wars Comics
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi (Trigalis Disguise)
  • Aayla Secura (Trigalis Disguise)
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi's Swoop Bike (Trigalis)
  • Aayla Secura's Jedi Starfighter
  • Lord Xist
  • Aayla Secura's Astromech Droid
  • Sharad Hett ("Tusken Raider" Jedi)
  • A'Sharad Hett ("Tusken Raider" Jedi)
  • Master Fay
  • Alpha-17
  • Dark Woman
Wave 8 - Attack of the Clones
  • Rodian Jedi
Wave 9 - Revenge of the Sith Wave 10 - "Open Season" (Jango Fett Comics)
  • Jango Fett (Mandalorian Soldier)
  • Jango Fett (Mandalore)
  • Jaster Mereel
  • Montross [TSC]
  • Mandalorians (Jango's Grunts)
  • Myles
  • Vizsla
Wave 11 - The Phantom Menace
  • TC-14 (Silver Trade Federation Protocol Droid)
  • Gardulla the Hutt
  • R5-X2 (Jabba's astromech droid)
Wave 12 - Knights of the Old Republic
  • Darth Nihilus
  • Visas Marr
  • Mandalorian Neo-Crusader
  • Master Vandar
  • Sith Trooper
  • Bastila Shan
  • Ulic Qel-Droma
  • Exar Kun
  • Nomi Sunrider
  • Darth Bane
  • Darth Malak
  • Darth Bandon
  • Darth Scion
  • HK-47
  • Raana Tey
  • Q'Anilia
  • Feln
  • Commander Rohlan (Mandalorian Leader)
Wave 13 - Legacy
Wave 14 - Expanded Universe
  • Republic Commando (gray, Omega Squad)
  • Clone SCUBA Commander
  • Seatrooper (Empire-era)
  • Riv Shiel (Rogue 6) [POTF2]
  • Standro Jcir(Rodian X-Wing Pilot from Rogue Squadron) [TSC]
  • Clone Assassin
  • Commander Faie (Kashyyyk Armor)
  • Mastmot - white furry beasts, mounts for Cold Assault Troopers
  • Clone Engineer (from Battlefront II)
  • Commander Keller
  • Mandalorians (Female and Male Couple)
  • Mandalorians (Clone Wars Grunts)
  • Swamp Trooper (Early)
  • Swamp Trooper (Later)
  • Nova Trooper
  • Lumiya
  • Stormtrooper Commando
Wave 15 - Concepts Wave 16 - Fan Fiction Wave 17 - Titanium Vehicles
  • Theta-class Imperial Shuttle [Titanium]
  • Anakin's Jedi Starfighter (Yellow) [Titanium]
  • Obi-Wan's Jedi Starfighter (Red) [Titanium]
  • TIE Shuttle [Titanium]
  • Kappa-class Shuttle [Titanium]
  • Custom Landspeeder [Titanium]
  • Damaged TIE Fighter [Titanium]
  • AT-AT Swimmer [Titanium]
  • V-19 Torrent Starfighter [Titanium]
Wave 18 - Miniatures (MicroMachines, Star Wars Miniatures game)
Posted by John Varan at 2:55 PM 10 comments

Waves

We tend to groups our customs into "waves", much like how Hasbro releases their figures. However, this being a part-time hobby, some our waves contain no more than a single figure! We also try to make sure that everything in the wave actually matches the theme of that wave (what a novel idea!). Details about the waves are available in the All Customs link (in the Links section on the right).
Posted by John Varan at 11:06 AM 6 comments

Monday, February 06, 2006

How We Started

I first started collecting vintage Star Wars figures in the early 80's when I was a kid. Eventually, I outgrew the toys and my parents threw out all my toys. I didn't realize what a travesty this was until much later...ah well, you live and learn. Then I got back into it around 1995-1996 with the POTF2 collection, and also managed to re-acquire some of my favorite vintage figures. I did my first few customs at this time, although there wasn't a lot of information available about the hobby on the Internet at the time. Near the end of the POTF2 line, I kind of drifted off again and got busy with more important things like getting a job, getting married, and all that other "real-life" stuff. But this time, I didn't throw any of the toys out. I boxed them up and stored them away. I had learned my lesson!

By 2005, I had a 3 year old son who became fascinated with Star Wars. We watched the existing movies and eagerly awaited the final movie in the saga. When he expressed an interest in Star Wars action figures, I bought him his first one - a red and white ROTS Clone Commander. He loved it and soon, we were going strong again. We collected almost the entire ROTS line and are now going strong with the new Saga Collection, and also picked up a few figures of our favorite characters that we had missed along the way from Episode I, Saga, POTJ, etc. Eventually, my son started asking for figures that didn't exist. First it was from the Clone Wars cartoons (a lot of the background Jedi and Clones), then he wanted some from the comics (from the Clone Wars trade paperbacks - his favorite), and then eventually from the movies (a holographic Darth Maul - his current most-wanted). So...we got back into customizing. He's a little too young to help out for now, but he does sit and watch, provides a lot of surprisingly good ideas, and asks a lot of questions. It's a fun hobby for us to share together.

As I got back into customizing, I quickly realized that some of the rules had changed. Most customizers that I've seen on the Internet seem focused on making figures for displays, dioramas, or photonovels. I refer to those customs as customized display figures, but I had to make customized toys - the ones I made had to survive trials with the Dark Side like playtime with a 3 year old! This meant that certain options, like using Sculpey, were out. It was too brittle to withstand being dropped and banged. So making some things became more difficult, but the extra challenge is fun in and of itself.
Posted by John Varan at 12:39 PM 15 comments
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